nokia

InterDigital, Samsung settle 3G patent dispute

Lynnette Luna — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:07:09 -0500

InterDigital and Samsung settled two long-standing patent-infringement lawsuits just as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) was about to make a decision on whether to recommend banning imports of Samsung phones containing 3G phones.

The patents pertained to 3G technology used in Samsung's Balckjack II and Instinct smartphones. According to the Wall Street Journal, InterDigital has garnered some $1.5 billion from wireless patents. Apple and Research in Motion license its technology but Samsung was a hold out until the settlement along with Nokia. InterDigital has a lawsuit pending against Nokia. A judge is set to hear the case in May 2009 and rule in August, with an ITC ruling due by the middle of December.

For more:
- read the WSJ (sub. req.)

Related articles:
InterDigital signs iPhone patent deal with Apple
InterDigital wins patent dispute against Samsung

Waiting for the Nokia WiMAX tablet

Lynnette Luna — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:52:53 -0400

Speculation is that Nokia's 810 WiMAX tablet, which has been touted for months, may finally be ready for sale this month. The tablet PC device will be the first handheld available on Sprint's Xohm WiMAX network, which has already gone live in Baltimore. Article

Qualcomm, Nokia end long-standing patent disputes

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:52:21 -0400

The many bitter patent disputes between Qualcomm and Nokia have finally ended. The two telecom giants announced they have entered into a new 15-year patent agreement that effectively settles all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission and numerous lawsuits filed in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Nokia filed a complaint with the EC in October 2005 with five other companies, which led to a flurry of lawsuits between Qualcomm and its rivals and several regulatory probes into Qualcomm's licensing practices. The two were also miles apart for some time when it came to renegotiating a new license agreement that expired in April 2007.

The new deal comes on the day Qualcomm and Nokia were to appear in a Delaware court to begin a key trial over WCDMA patents, but the judge had delayed the trial by a day. Nokia claimed Qualcomm charges too much for the patents. Nokia now has been granted a license under all of Qualcomm's patents for use in Nokia mobile devices and Nokia Siemens Networks infrastructure equipment. The agreement covers a number of technology standards, including GSM, EDGe, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and others. Nokia also agreed not to use any of its patents directly against Qualcomm, enabling Qualcomm to integrate Nokia's technology into Qualcomm's chipsets.

The financial structure of the settlement includes an up-front payment and on-going royalties payable to Qualcomm. Nokia has agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA. The specific terms, however, are confidential.

Qualcomm investors breathed a sigh of relief, pushing the company's shares up 18.7 percent in after-hours trading.

Qualcomm delayed the release of its fiscal third-quarter results for several hours to announce the agreement with Nokia. The company's profits fell 6 percent to $748 million, or 45 cents a share, for the three months ended June 29, down from $798 million, or 47 cents a share, the previous year. Revenue grew 19 percent to $2.76 billion from $2.33 billion.

For more:
- read AP
- see this release

Related stories:
Nokia gains patent victory over Qualcomm in Germany. Nokia patent story
Nokia, Qualcomm head to court this week over CDMA patents. Nokia/Qualcomm story
Qualcomm-Nokia lawsuits continue to fly. Lawsuit story
Nokia sues Qualcomm in Europe. Nokia-Qualcomm story

Sprint: WiMAX ready in Baltimore, Washington D.C.

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Sprint Nextel and Samsung Electronics announced that WiMAX services in Washington D.C. and Baltimore have completed the testing phase successfully and are now ready to launch commercially. The companies, however, did not disclose a specific date for when the services will be made available to the public. Sprint spokesman John Polivka said the services will make their full commercial launch sometime "later this year."

"This is a major step towards launch readiness and Sprint is extremely pleased with the performance of the mobile WiMAX network and access devices from Samsung," said Barry West, president of Sprint's mobile broadband network branch, called Xohm. "The collaboration with Samsung and our other partners has created a WiMAX ecosystem that has now proven that it can deliver this new technology to the marketplace well ahead of any feasible alternative."

Right now only PC cards have been used, but mobile devices such as Nokia's tablet are also in the pipeline. Plans to embed WiMAX chips into various personal devices, including digital cameras, have been widely discussed.

Recently, Clearwire, with is merging with Sprint with the help of cable partners, Google and Intel, announced plans to launch mobile WiMAX in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Grand Rapids, Mich., where it has a deal with the government, after it launches in Portland, Ore., during the second quarter of this year. It will do so prior to its merger with Sprint.

For more on Sprint's WiMAX plans in D.C. and Baltimore:
- read this article from Washington Business Journal

ALSO NOTED: Vodafone U.K. adds unlimited data usage; Skypilot raises $3.4M; and much more...

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:51 -0400

> Vodafone U.K. has added unlimited data usage to all its new monthly plans, which makes it the first U.K. carrier that does not require a separate plan for mobile Internet or email usage. Article

> T-Mobile and Nokia announced an agreement to collaborate on new mobile web and social networking services. Article

> WiFi vendor Skypilot has raised an additional $3.4 million from its current investors, Mobius Ventures and August Capital. Article

And Finally... A German syndicate announced that it has patented a chip for sending scents via text and multimedia messages. Article

Rumor: ip.access wins femtocell deal with AT&T

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

According to a report from ThinkPanmure, AT&T has inked a $500 million deal with ip.access for 7 million femtocells, which it plans to sell to its subscribers for about $100. The firm says the deal was fiercely fought with companies such as Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks and Airvana heavily contending for the contract.

Further, ThinkPanmure believes such a win could push Cisco to look at ip.access as an acquisition target.

"We believe Cisco is looking to increase its profile in wireless, and that ip.access is likely next in this strategy as Cisco's femtocell play. We believe that if this were to happen, it would be integrated into the Linksys organization," said the firm.

- Check out ThinkPanmure's web site

Related articles:
Sprint launches femtocell service in two markets Report on Sprint's femtocell launch
T-Mobile plans femtocell trials Report on T-Mobile's femtocell plans

Key vendors absent from new LTE licensing scheme

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Six vendors announced they have committed to a framework designed to offer predictable and more transparent IP licensing. Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NEC, NextWave Wireless, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson have specifically agreed to royalties for LTE that total less than 10 percent of the resale price for handsets and less than $10 for laptops. However, it is up to the companies involved to decide how this (up to) 10 percent is split between them.

"The adoption of this initiative will reassure operators of the early widespread adoption of LTE technology throughout the consumer electronics industry," Ericsson's SVP, GM and CTO Håkan Eriksson said in a statement.

Notably absent from the agreement are Qualcomm, Motorola and Nortel. Without those major players, will such an agreement work out?

For more on the LTE licensing agreement:
- read this press release from the companies

Related articles:
- Vodafone CEO: WiMAX has a home in LTE. Story on Vodafone
- China Mobile joins Vodafone, Verizon in LTE trial. Story on LTE trials

ALSO NOTED: Airspan issues financial warning; Nokia denies reports it will sell laptop computers with 3G modules; and much more

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:59:51 -0400

> Broadband wireless vendor Airspan, in a financial warning, indicated its sales in the first quarter were about 85 percent of what it had expected. Article

> Nokia has denied reports that it might consider selling laptop computers with embedded 3G/HSPA modules. Article

> Pakistan is expected to auction 3G spectrum in the next few months. Article

And Finally... China Mobile says that it plans to donate 15,000 3G phones based on TD-SCDMA technology to the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee. Article

SPOTLIGHT: Cellular/WiFi phone market reached $26.8B in 2007

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:52 -0400

A new report from Infonetics Research says the worldwide cellular/WiFi phone market hit $26.8 billion in 2007 and is forecast to nearly triple by 2011. Moreover, the report says that Nokia is by far the leader in cellular/WiFi phones, followed by HTC and Sony Ericsson. Article

SPOTLIGHT: Nokia hoists the WiMAX flag 180 feet

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:52 -0400

Nokia setup a massive crane in the parking lot in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center at CTIA Wireless to demonstrate the new capabilities of the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, which is now WiMAX (802.16e) enabled. Nokia strapped 20 journalists into roller coaster style seats attached to a board meeting-like table and lifted the entire apparatus 180 feet into the air. In front of each journalist was a cup holder and a N810 device running on a WiMAX demo the company had set up in the lot. Article

Intel: WiMAX/WiFi chip coming in ultramobile PCs

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

Intel Senior Vice President Arun Chandrasekhar indicated that more than one-third of the ultramobile PCs coming to market later this year will include Intel's Atom Centrino platform, which offers a combination of WiMAX and WiFi. During the VON.x conference in San Jose this week, Chandrasekhar said of the 35 third-party designs for Atom Centrino devices scheduled to come to market in the second quarter, 37 percent will include WiMAX. Fourteen percent will include only WiFi and 49 percent will include a combination of WiFi and HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access).

To read more about Intel's Atom Centrino platform:
- check out this article from IDG News Service

Related articles:
- Intel announces WiMAX and WiFi chip Report
- Intel, Nokia, Nokia Siemens announce WiMAX pact Report

ALSO NOTED: ComVu offers live video stream over WiMAX; NexTone, Reef Point complete merger; and much more...

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> Monaco Telecom, a Cable & Wireless affiliate, announced it is working with Alvarion, Cisco and Nokia to establish a Center of Excellence on mobile WiMAX. Article

> ComVu offers live video streaming from WiMAX-enabled devices. Article

> HP integrates HSDPA into Compaq 2710p notebook PC with Vodafone partnership in Greece. Article

> NexTone, Reef Point complete merger. Article

And Finally... Where are the missing iPhones? Article

Prediction: 2008 is the great open access experiment

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:59:54 -0500

The mantra in 2007 was open access, and 2008 will be about delivering on the lip service. Sprint Nextel is embarking on what will be the industry's first experiment with open access. The operator's WiMAX business, Xohm, revolves around open access and devices that are cheap enough for the consumer to buy outright from consumer electronics players. Verizon Wireless says in the year ahead that it will open its network and enable subscribers to use devices, software and applications from third-party providers. AT&T piped in and said it already offers open access. Regardless of how serious Verizon and AT&T are about open access, the crux of the issue is whether full-priced devices can make an impact in a market that heavily relies on subsidized devices. You can bet that Nokia will be working hard to appeal directly to the consumer, but 2008 will be the great experiment for open access that will have little impact on the consumer.

ALSO NOTED: Qualcomm must pay Broadcom royalty fees for QChat; ABI Research: Expect 4G royalty rates in the range of 4.8 percen

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> Nokia Siemens announced its intention to purchase IMS database management specialist Apertio for $205.6 million. Article

> Qualcomm must pay Broadcom royalty fees on QChat. Release and Release

> According to ABI Research, the industry should be braced to expect royalty rates for 4G technologies in the range of 4.8 percent to 7.7 percent. Article

And Finally... American Tower sues Goldman Sachs over CEO impersonation. Article

'4G' standards jockey for position

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:59:53 -0500

The International Telecommunication Union hasn't officially sanctioned 4G standards yet but chances are they will be based on OFDMA technology and they'll be Long Term Evolution (LTE), the migration path for W-CDMA, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), CDMA2000's path, and an advanced form of WiMAX since WiMAX was officially sanctioned as a 3G technology.

Verizon Wireless nailed its stake in the ground, committing to LTE to align itself with partner Vodafone. The operator's breakaway from its CDMA2000 path puts UMB in jeopardy since Sprint is committed to WiMAX. Since LTE is a 2009 story what type of momentum will WiMAX gain in the interim?

Related articles:
Nokia Siemens in joint LTE development with DoCoMo Report
LTE could bridge Verizon wireless, wireline Report

Sprint launches three WiMAX markets as planned

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Sprint has soft launched its WiMAX network this week in Chicago and Baltimore-Washington D.C. as planned. The initial trial is limited to Sprint employees only and the carrier has not disclosed what hardware the users will have to connect to the network. Nokia and Samsung have both inked deals with the carrier for WiMAX-enabled devices. These initial test markets will become commercially available during the first quarter of next year and Sprint expects a full commercial launch during the second quarter of 2008.

In related news, WiMAX chipmaker Beceem announced the completion of initial interoperability testing between Beceem's chipset and Sprint's WiMAX infrastructure as part of the Sprint Mobile WiMAX device launch preparations.

"This is a big deal because it signifies the technical readiness of the overall solution. It means the network is ready to go in 2008," said Beceem's Lars Johnsson, vice president of business development, in an interview with FierceBroadbandWireless. "It's really the building block for everything else to follow

Big deal because signifies the technical readiness of the overall solution. On top of that is product availability and channel and distribution models, subscriber management and it's really the building block for everything else to follow.

For more on Sprint's WiMAX trial and Beceem's announcement:
- read this article from InformationWeek
- check out this release

Related articles:
Forsee out at Sprint, WiMAX plans questioned Article
FiberTower inks WiMAX backhaul deal with Sprint Article
Sprint's WiMAX deal to undergo a tweak? Article

ALSO NOTED: Denver airport deploys 802.11n; Russia fixed-line operator to build WiMAX; and much more...

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:59:51 -0500

> Denver International Airport became the first airport in the nation to deploy an 802.11n network. Release

> Nokia signed a deal with European WiFi hotspot provider The Cloud to enable WiFi customers to gain free access to Nokia's new music store. Release

> According to a recent report from Juniper Research, WiMAX services should have more than 80 million subscribers by 2013. Article

> Russian fixed line operator Comstar said it has gotten Intel to help it build out a mobile WiMAX network in the Moscow region. Article

XO, Sotto Wireless launch trial enterprise FMC

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:59:54 -0500

XO Communications and Sotto wireless announced a trial of a fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solution for businesses in Seattle. The XO-Sotto FMC solution, called Unwired Office, combines XO's nationwide IP networking capabilities with Sotto's all-in-one wireless and office phone communications service to offer an integrated fixed and wireless service on a single platform with one smartphone that can be used in the office or outside of it for voice, email and Internet access as well as optional IP desk phones.

The service uses dual-mode smartphones from Nokia, such as the Nokia E61i, that feature both office WiFi and cellular network connectivity options, full keyboards, and productivity applications. The hybrid wireless capabilities allow employees to use the Nokia smartphones to make calls over WiFi networks and use cellular networks when employees are away from the office.

To read more:
- take a look at this release

Court dismisses Nokia complaint against Qualcomm

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

After a slew of setbacks surrounding the company's license fights in court, Qualcomm won a victory of sorts in Europe when a Dutch court threw out Nokia's patent complaint against the U.S. CDMA chipmaker. Nokia had argued that it shouldn't have to pay license fees to Qualcomm since its chip supplier, Texas Instruments, already licenses the same patents from Qualcomm.

However, the court said Nokia hadn't offered enough information about which patents from Texas Instruments the world's largest handset manufacturer actually uses. It added that Nokia's arguments were "too abstract" and "too theoretical," according to court documents Dow Jones Newswires got its hands on.

Nokia and Qualcomm have been at each other's throats, filing lawsuits against each other in multiple jurisdictions as they try to hammer out a new licensing deal that expired in April. Qualcomm said in its recent financial results conference call that no progress has been made in inching closer to a new license deal with Nokia.

For more about the court's move:
- read this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

Tests show LTE hits peak data rates

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

Nokia announced that the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI), made up of a group of companies that includes Ericsson, Nokia and Vodafone, said its LTE tests have met goals for physical-layer throughput to both fixed and mobile users. The technology met the peak data rates testing both single-antenna and multiple-antenna radios in a lab and in the field, according to the group. The peak data rates for LTE, which is expected to become commercial in 2010, are 100 Mbps on the downlink and 50 Mbps on the uplink. Of course we all know that real-world throughput will be much less, say 10 Mbps? That's still pretty good. However, a new Unstrung Insider report says one of the biggest hurdles LTE will have to overcome is lack of spectrum to deploy it. Not including spectrum already allocated for mobile communications, the report finds that an additional 1 GHz of spectrum needs to be found for future mobile communications technologies. The LTE radio systems can run on bandwidth ranging from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz. Of course, the more bandwidth available, the faster the system will run.

LSTI also announced some new members of the initiative, which includes China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo and Samsung.

For more about the LSTI LTE trials and the hurdles to LTE:
- read this article from IDG News Service
- check out this report from Unstrung